Chapter 5.3

Ethereum Mining Pools

After setting up your Ethereum Mining hardware, software and wallet - essentially, after creating your Ethereum Mining Rig, the last thing that you need to do is to join a mining pool.

Best Ethereum Mining Pools

What is a Mining Pool?

A mining pool is basically a group of individuals who come together to mine a cryptocurrency. Basically, even after you set up your mining rigs, it is not necessary that you will be making major profits. The fact of the matter is that when mining alone, you’re bound to make slower returns compared to when you’re mining with other miners.

Mining Pools make use of the combined mining power of all the miners to mine for cryptocurrencies, and all the reward is shared between the users as per the agreements. Let us now take a closer look at the topic at hand - Ethereum Mining Pools:

Ethereum Mining Pools: What Are They?

Ethereum Mining pools are formed when a group of users pool their resources together and begin to mine for ethereum. The profits are shared by the users based on the amount of work done by each user.

Things To Keep in Mind Before You Join an Ethereum Mining Pool

While this idea of joining hands with other miners to mine faster and get more regular rewards seems exciting, there are a number of things that users need to keep in mind before they progress with it. Let us take a quick look at all the factors that need to be kept in mind before choosing the best ethereum mining pool.

Reputation of the Pool:

The first thing that you need to keep in mind is - is the pool that you are joining trustworthy. There are a number of pool scams that are going on where pools pay the users initially and then shut shop and run away. This also happens a lot in case of cloud mining. Before proceeding with anything, always ensure that the pool you are joining has a good reputation and has been operating for some time. It is best advised to avoid joining new pools which have been around for less than a year.

Fees Charged by the Pool:

After the reputation of the pool, the second biggest factor that needs to be kept in mind is the fees that the pool charges. Pools allow you to mine faster and get more regular rewards - but in exchange for this they charge you a small fees. This fees is variable and depends from pool to pool. Some of them charge as less as 0% and there are others which might charge a lot higher.

On an average the pool fees varies between 1% to 4% but there are some pools which charge a lot higher too. It is best advised to not compromise on the pool fees as pools with high reputation tend to charge more and newer pools are often free of cost.

Method of Payment:

Different pools have different rules when it comes to payouts. Some pools give a daily or a weekly payout, there are some which offer monthly returns while there are others which offer returns only when a block is solved.

Methods of the payment depend upon who is ‘bearing the risk’. In simpler words, bearing the risk means - if the pool is bearing the risk, users would still get regular payouts regardless of how well the pool is performing. In case the user bears the risk, the payouts are often higher, but they aren’t at regular intervals.

Moreover, you also need to keep in mind that there are some pools which have a minimum payment threshold - a minimum amount of coins you need to have earned before you can send it to your wallet. These tend to be quite restrictive sometimes.

Location:

It is best advised to look for Ethereum Mining Pools in your area. If you are a resident of Germany, a Germany based Ethereum Mining Pool is perhaps your best choice - and not a pool based out of China. Location has an important role to play in mining and it is best advised to choose a pool near you.

Let us now take a look at the best Ethereum Mining Pools

Best Ethereum Mining Pools

Here’s a list of the top 5 Ethereum Mining Pools. Keep the aforementioned factors in mind and choose the best pool that suites your needs.

F2Pool:

One of the most popular names when it comes to mining cryptocurrencies, F2Pool is a popular Ethereum Mining Pool. It also supports mining for Bitcoins. However the biggest limitation here is that the website is available only in Chinese. Users would either need to know the language or always make use of it using Google Translate. It is one of the biggest Mining pools of all times and has a majority of the Asian mining community connected on to it. The F2Pool Ethereum Mining pool charges a 3% fee.

Ethpool/Ethermine:

Ethpool and Ethermine are technically two different websites. However, as an Ethereum Mining Pool, they’re both the same. Their combined efforts result in 25% of the total hash power of the network - making them the largest Ethereum Mining Pool ever. Moreover, there are no fees too. An absolute 0% fees is charged to the users and payouts are given after 10 confirmations.

Dwarfpool:

Another major name when it comes to Ethereum Mining Pools, Dwarfpool accounts for 13% of the hash power of the network. The pool charges a flat fee of 2%. It also allows users to mine for other currencies such as Monero and Dashcoins.

Ethereumpool.co:

Another popular choice when it comes to Ethereum Mining Pools, ethereumpool.co is stable, transparent and allows the users up to 2 payouts a day with a minimum threshold of 0.5 ETH. The pool charges a nominal fee of 1% on all transactions.

Ethfans:

The final name on this list, Ethfans is a popular Ethereum Mining Pool, but only for those based in China. It contains about 8.6% of the network’s total hash power and is a major name. However it is of use only to Ethereum Miners based in China and nearby nations.

We hope this post helped you make a well informed choice about selecting an Ethereum Mining Pool.

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